Almost 8

(scenes from a party in the woods)

Tomorrow Beatrice turns eight years old. It’s hard to believe she’s eight, a second grader—and also hard to believe she’s only eight. So much has happened in her life so far—she’s lived in Hickory and Raleigh and Pittsboro. She’s been to New York and Paris and Los Angeles and D.C. and Walkerton and Tybee Island. She’s seen bald eagles and all-white deer and owls and snakes and snappers. She’s raised many frogs. She’s a great big sister, a lover of mythology and nature, a believer in fairness and kindness. She is the wisest, most positive person I know.

Last Saturday we had a small party for her with a few of her friends. We played in the yard, hiked to the river, and came back home again to eat cupcakes. Before her friends left, Bea gave each of them a sprout from her mother of millions plant (“Party favors have changed since I was a kid,” Richard remarked). In the past we’ve had bigger gatherings, but Bea and I liked just doing something small and simple this year—because really, all you need is a few friends to run around with. I’m grateful for these sweet friends, for the many awesome people who are a part of Bea’s life, and for the privilege of spending most every day with her.

We’re working on a post for Friday about Small Business Saturday, and why shopping small and local is the best for your community and the planet (it’s taking us a little longer to put together the bookbinding post, but we’re working on that too).

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a good book about Thanksgiving, we recommend these books:

We Are Grateful/Otsaliheliga is a picture book by Traci Sorrell about gratitude as practiced by the Cherokee people.

History Smashers: The Mayflower is a fun illustrated nonfiction book by Kate Messner that sheds light on the untruths so many of us learn about “the first Thanksgiving.”

For adults, get yourself a copy of The Sentence by Louise Erdrich—less for exposure of the lies told by white people about Indigenous cultures (though there’s some of that too), than for the astonishingly insightful mirror the held up to the times we’re living in. There is a wonderful baby, debates over wild rice, a haunted bookstore, and animals within, as Joy Williams says, to give their blessing. The audiobook is read by Erdrich herself and is filling my walks and drives with mystery and joy and the brilliant company of one of my favorite writers. (Her Birchbark House series is also one of Bea’s favorites.)

Okay, see you soon! We are grateful for you, Frog Troublers!